Imap Support For Email?

[wujimon]

Does TCH offer IMAP support for email? I've found a couple of references to IMAP on the forum but nothing definitive on the topic.

 

w.

[TCH-Rick]

Yes, IMAP is supported on all accounts.

[wujimon]

Can you pleaes provide some links to documentation on this or perhaps the server name to access imap instead of pop email accounts.

 

Thanks for your assistance.

w.

[TCH-Rob]

There is no special server name. When you are setting up your accounts in your favorite email client it should ask you at some point during the wizard if you are using POP3 or IMAP. It may be a drop-down menu or a radio button depending youe client.

 

What email client do you use and we can give a bit more precise assistance?

[wujimon]

Thanks for all the assistance, I just entered the domain name but specified an alternate access method (IMAP). I always thought IMAP and POP addresses would be different from one another, but I guess not??

 

w.

[borfast]

You should use the same server address both for POP and IMAP access: mail.******

[wujimon]

What kind of IMAP implementation does TCH provide? I ask b/c I notice a couple of differences with regards to other IMAP servers that I've dealt with. They are:

 

1. Other service have IMAP that supports quota management. ie, able to click on the inbox, choose properties and view my quota on the account.

 

2. Ability to create subfolders. Seems as if I'm unable to do this. I've tried using Mozilla Thunderbird and I've also tried to do this via the cpanel squirrelmail.

 

3. Inbox as root path. When I subscribe as IMAP, Mozilla TB shows my drafts, sent, and trash folders all on the same hierarchy structure as my inbox and they're titled: INBOX.Sent, INBOX.Trash, etc. Could this be one of the reasons why I'm unable to create subfolders?

 

Just curious as to why I'm seeing differences with the IMAP implementation at TCH. For reference, I'm comparing the IMAP service with that of Fastmail. I believe they are using Cyrus IMAP.

 

Just curious..

w.

[wujimon]

Perhaps the difference lies in the Fastmail using the Cyrus implementation whereas TCH uses the UW IMAP implementation.

 

Found the following link for a high level overview:

 

http://www.unt.edu/benchmarks/archives/1998/may98/cyrus.htm

 

But still didn't find any mentionings of subfolders. I'm still curious if I can create subfolders. I'll send a ticket to the help desk.

 

w.

[borfast]

I'm not sure about the implementation details, nor the ability to manage quotas or the index as root path.

 

I do know that in order to rename some folders, I had to create new folders for Trash, Drafts and Sent-mail, log into squirrel mail, tell it to use the new folders as the default for deleted messages, drafts and sent messages. Then I deleted the "old" folders and fired up Thunderbird, which automatically detected the changes.

 

As for the sub-folders, I can't seem to be able to create them from Thunderbird, either. I don't think I tried creating them from within squirrelmail.

[wujimon]

For the sake of closing the discussion, below is what I received the following message from a sysadmin:

I am afraid our email server does not support the option of creating subfolders in squirrelmail. But you can create local folders and subfolders using an email client such as Mozilla. (You can right click on a folder and choose the option to create its subfolder).

 

Guess no subfolders with TCH's IMAP implementation.. sounds kinda weird.. I'm gonna follow up to see why that is..

[esrxxol]

Interestingly, I was able to create subfolders a few months ago. Thunderbird was never great at dealing with them; I used Squirrelmail to create and organize. For some reason this functionality has disappeared. I still have my existing subfolders, but can no longer create anything but top-level folders.

[samr33]

As far as I can tell, TCH implementation of IMAP does not allow folders that contain BOTH messages and subfolders, only folders that contain only messages OR only other folders.

If you're using Thunderbird the best way to create a "folder-only" subfolder is to right click on the top-level account icon in the Folders sidebar, go to New Folder..., then create two folders at once using the format "apples/oranges", the forward slash being key. This will create an empty, non-message-bearing folder called apples with a message-bearing subfolder named oranges in it (oranges will not be able to hold additional subfolders). You may now right click on apples to create additional message bearing folders such as oranges, or repeat the process to create a deeper directory tree.

 

In a sense, you have to trick Thunderbird into creating a non-message holding folder by creating using the "firstfolder/underfolder" format. That's the only way it knows that underfolder is for messages and firstfolder will only hold other folders.

 

Hope this helps.